General Manager - Cyber Defence

About this role

General Manager - Cyber Defence

• Adversary-Led Leadership: Establish and direct the CISO "Defence Engine," shifting security operations from reactive alert-handling to a proactive, intelligence-led capability.
• *Executive Impact:*Lead Platform Security, Threat & Exposure Management, CTI, and the SOC reporting directly to the CISO, with a clear career pathway toward the CISO role.
• Next-Gen Defence: Fuse agentic AI with detection-as-code and proactive threat hunting to neutralize complex enterprise threats at machine speed.

We are Woolworths Group

We are Woolworths Group. 200,000+ bright minds, passionate hearts and unique perspectives connected by a shared Purpose – ‘to create better experiences together for a better tomorrow.’ It’s that Purpose that fuels our ambition to explore new ideas, make brave commitments and innovate better ways to meet the food and everyday needs of more than 24 million customers every week.

If you’re excited to turn today’s blue sky thinking into a better tomorrow for future generations, you’ll find yourself supported and enriched in a dynamic, inclusive and empowering workplace that reflects the diverse communities we serve. With a culture of genuine care, a flexible approach to work and opportunities across the group to grow your career and make a meaningful impact, the possibilities for what we can achieve together are endless.

We are transforming our CISO organisation into an agile, threat-intelligence-driven power house. As General Manager - Cyber Defence, you will lead the "Defence Engine" of our cyber operating model. Reporting directly to the Chief Information Security Officer, you will break down traditional security silos by integrating Platform Security, Threat & Exposure Management, CTI, and Threat Detection & Response into a unified, high-performing Cyber Defence Centre capability across Woolworths Group.

What You'll Do

• Cyber Defence Leadership: Shift the overarching defense strategy toward an adversary-led model focused on minimising attacker dwell time and maximizing business survivability.
• Threat Detection & Response: Direct specialised engineering functions, leveraging agentic AI to accelerate automated detection, triage, and response at scale.
• Threat Intelligence & Proactive Hunting: Elevate CTI out of traditional SOC silos to focus on critical enterprise risks, and establish an AI-assisted hypothesis threat hunting function.
• Threat & Exposure Management: Oversee continuous security validation, including vulnerability reporting, penetration testing, and formal Red/Purple teaming exercises.
• Leadership & Team Orchestration: Lead a team of direct reports (Heads of SOC, Platform Security, Threat & Exposure Management, and Threat Intelligence) across internal teams, Global Capability Centres (GCCs), and MSPs.

What You'll Bring

• Experience: 15+ years in technology with 8+ years in IT leadership and 5+ years specialising in enterprise Cyber Security.
• Domain Expertise: Deep technical mastery in SOC operations, incident response, vulnerability management, threat intelligence, and offensive tradecraft (Red/Purple teaming).
• Executive Translation: Strong ability to translate complex threat telemetry, adversary insights, and exposure metrics into strategic business narratives for ExCo and the Board.
• AI Integration: Proven background embedding agentic AI, detection-as-code, and automation into modern operational security workflows.

What you’ll Experience

• Team Discounts - Team discounts across our range of Woolworths Group brands you know and love and a robust rewards program that celebrates and incentivises purpose-driven work.
• 12 weeks paid parental leave for primary caregivers. Woolworths Group will also continue to pay superannuation for up to 12 months (subject to relevant caps) while the Team Member is on parental leave (paid or unpaid).
• 4 weeks paid leave for secondary caregivers
• Wellness - Access to Sonder. Sonder provides free confidential 24/7 personalised financial, medical safety, psychological or physical support for team members and their families.

About cyber security & digital forensics roles for ex-police

Cyber security, digital forensics and incident-response roles. DMIs, cybercrime investigators and digital forensics officers bring evidential discipline and investigative judgement that DFIR and security teams struggle to hire.